CENTRAL ASIA 
of the mountain pass, and live in every variety of scenery and altitude, 
yet the Kok-su Valley may be considered to be the haunt par excellence of 
the really colossal heads of 56-58 inches. 
The Tian Shan ibex is one of the numerous varieties of the Capra sibirica, 
called Capra sibirica almasyi. It is found nearly everywhere. I have seen 
it on low sandstone foothills a few hundred feet above the plains, and it 
habitually lives at 13,000 feet — coming a bit lower in winter. 
The remarkable numbers of ibex which exist in suitable localities is 
the wonder of all travellers who are lucky enough to have seen them. 
It is difficult to convey to the mind the impression that comes over one 
at the first sight of a big herd of these magnificent beasts grazing over 
the steep grassy meadows, between forest line and the eternal snows. 
The comparative easiness of the country is the first point which strikes 
one. Their feeding grounds are wide, grassy slopes, constituting a zone 
perhaps 4,000 feet in altitude and many miles in width between the forests 
and the shale and snow ridges above. The wonderful pasture, resulting 
from a heavy rainfall, grants an altogether unique supply for wild hill 
game to subsist on; they have all they want in the way of ample feed and 
safe retreats. The bulk of the ibex ground is pasture land; the rock and 
shale summits are in a minor proportion to the whole; forming an alto- 
gether different environment to the world of precipices and crag, dotted 
with isolated and almost impregnable patches of pasture, such as are the 
typical abodes of ibex in other parts of Asia. I have ridden up to ibex, 
that is to say to within 500 yards, and after a successful stalk, have taken 
the horses on to where the beasts lay dead. The great expanse and 
remarkable luxuriance of the high pastures is the feature of Tian Shan 
ibex ground. 
In the early morning they come down off the shale slopes above, in herds 
of thirty to fifty bucks, and female troops of a hundred or more individuals. 
In summer, on one occasion one may see an immense mixed herd of males, 
females and young, and the next “spy” may show up a herd composed 
entirely of bucks. It is not a criterion that the biggest bucks are solitary, 
or even in small herds of half a dozen; one may find a herd of thirty old 
males, all of them with fine heads and perhaps a few with really colossal 
horns. In fact the size of the herds is one of the chief difficulties with which 
the stalker has to contend. Although the ground is easier, the actual stalk- 
ing may be made most intricate on account of the numbers of beasts that 
have to be kept in observation. A herd of twenty or fifty ibex scattered over 
139 
